Deutsche Telekom Faces Net Neutrality Complaint Over Alleged Throttling Practices

A coalition comprising digital rights organization Epicenter.Works, the Society for Civil Rights, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, and Stanford Law Professor Barbara van Schewick has filed a formal complaint with Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The complaint alleges systematic violation of net neutrality principles by Deutsche Telekom through what campaigners term "Netzbremse" (network brake) – deliberate throttling of internet traffic to services unwilling to pay for prioritized access.

Pattern of Performance Issues

Technical analysis of hundreds of user reports reveals a consistent pattern: Telekom customers experience severe connectivity issues specifically with services using Cloudflare infrastructure (including Discord, GitHub, and academic resources), public broadcasting media libraries, and international platforms during peak evening hours (6 PM - 11 PM). Performance metrics demonstrate:

• Packet loss exceeding 50% to Cloudflare IPs (1.1.1.1)
• Download speeds dropping to 30-50 KB/s on university research networks
• Streaming quality degrading to 480p or lower despite high-speed plans

Notably, these issues disappear immediately when users employ VPNs, suggesting selective traffic shaping rather than infrastructural limitations. As one user reported: "Without VPN, GitHub downloads crawl at 0.8 MB/s. Through VPN, I get full 250 MB/s. The bottleneck is clearly artificial" (Source).

The Peering Payment Dispute

At the core of the dispute lies internet peering – the interconnection agreements between networks. Telekom allegedly maintains artificially constrained peering points with major internet exchanges, creating congestion during high-traffic periods. Services that pay Telekom's fees for "direct peering" or "content delivery network (CDN) optimization" reportedly bypass these bottlenecks.

This creates a two-tiered internet where well-funded platforms (like Netflix and Disney+) maintain performance while academic institutions, open-source platforms, and smaller services suffer. The German Research Network (DFN) confirmed ongoing accessibility issues for Telekom users accessing educational resources, with one researcher noting: "I can stream three 4K videos simultaneously, but accessing my university's research portal becomes impossible in evenings" (Source).

Counterarguments and Complications

Deutsche Telekom denies violating net neutrality, framing the issue as standard commercial peering negotiations. In previous statements, they've argued:

1. Congestion results from other networks refusing to upgrade interconnection capacity
2. Paid "enhanced peering" options are legitimate business models
3. VPN workarounds prove their network has sufficient bandwidth capacity

Network engineers offer nuanced perspectives. Some note that settlement-free peering traditionally required balanced traffic flows, which asymmetric services (like video streaming) disrupt. Others counter that Telekom's market dominance (40%+ broadband share) creates an imbalance where even large content providers lack negotiation leverage.

Regulatory and Market Implications

The complaint invokes EU's Open Internet Regulation (2015/2120), which prohibits blocking, throttling, or discrimination of internet traffic. If the Bundesnetzagentur rules against Telekom, it could:

• Mandate infrastructure upgrades at peering points
• Ban paid prioritization schemes
• Set precedent for similar cases across Europe

Campaign organizers continue collecting user testimony at Netzbremse.de, where affected customers can share speed tests and service impact documentation. With consumer complaints dating back to 2020 and academic institutions reporting research impacts, this case highlights how peering disputes increasingly affect fundamental internet access.

Image: Netzbremse campaign visual explaining the throttling mechanism